By Michael F. Carmichael
Nov. 17, 2011
The 100-plus year-old Association for Women in Communications, composed of women in broadcasting, marketing and other forms of communication, usually honors one of its own at their annual conference with its Headliner Award – which they did this year. But the younger AWC Matrix Foundation also honored the head of a 35-year-old employee placement firm at this year's AWC national conference.
Terry Neese, Ph.D., not only heads that firm, but also is a global advocate for women entrepreneurs. She has served on Presidential commissions, is on the U.S-Afghan Women’s Council, is a co-founder of Women Impacting Public Policy and a former Distinguished Fellow of the National Center for Policy Analysis. She serves on the board of Northwood University and is considered by Fortune magazine as one of their “Power 30” – most influential women in Washington.
Whew!
Neese also heads the Institute for Economic Empowerment for Women (IEEW), an organization devoted to encouraging women entrepreneurs by showing them how to build, or grow a business. Or several, as Neese is a self-styled “serial entrepreneur.”
One of the ways Neese and the IEEW accomplish their mission is by encouraging women to get involved in public policy decisions.
Asked to define public policy, Neese says, “If you run a business, and you’re not involved in politics, then politics will run your business. I think it’s extremely important for every small business owner to know their city councilperson, their mayor, their state house rep, their state senator, their federal legislators – because you’ll never know when you’ll need them. And,” she cautions, “when you need them is not the time to get to know them.
“I learned that the hard way,” Neese continues. She had had her placement business only a couple of years in the 1970s and was successful enough to purchase an office building on Route 66 in Oklahoma City. “I purchased it mainly because of the visibility. I had been in the building for six months before I realized that they were tearing up Route 66 to tie it into an Interstate. I had no access into my building for two-and-a-half years. I’m in the people business and I had no access, none. It never occurred to me to call the city councilperson or the mayor or someone for help.”
| Dr. Terry Neese during her acceptance speech of the Journal Record's Lifetime Achievement Award for her work to advocate for women business owners across the world. |
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Nevertheless, Neese says her business thrived because women were motivated to get to her. “I had women in high heels who walked in tar to get to my building from where they had parked two blocks away – just to apply for work.”
Neese explains that getting involved in public policy and knowing the political players is also vital to becoming successful in getting government contracts. “It’s important to know how that process works. It’s hard to get into that arena, but your elected officials can steer you in the right directions and help you. It’s just critical. Many times staffers in the offices of those officials can really help you navigate through the system. Knowing how to get the right private sector or governmental certifications as a woman-owned business can lead to major success. You’d be surprised how many women business owners are out there that don’t know about certification.”
Neese is interested not only in helping women across the United States but also in Afghanistan and Rwanda as well. She is the founder of the Peace Through Business program, which is predicated on the notion that “an economically sound country has a much greater capacity for peace.” Her approach to achieve economic stability in those two countries in particular is to empower the women there to become successful entrepreneurs. Her contention is that “the best way to develop economic stability is to build a solid middle class through the largest population demographic — women.”